Agriculture Minister Points Out Farmer’s CRESAP Support Not Free

A lifeline for Belizean farmers now hangs in the balance. The Climate Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture Project, known as CRESAP, has helped producers adopt climate-smart practices and strengthen local food production. But while government is seeking an extension, Agriculture Minister Rodwell Ferguson says the final decision rests with the World Bank. In the meantime, he is urging farmers not to overlook the substantial subsidy government continues to provide through the program.

 

Rodwell Ferguson, Minister of Agriculture

“That is now being deliberated. A matter of fact, World Bank, I think, left Belize last week Saturday. The agricultural sector, at that point in time, they opened the, the ground breaking for the Cor- the Coral Institute in Village in Corozal, and they are very happy of our progress, and it’s They, they cannot decide who came, so it go back to the magnetic people see if it is going to be extended. But I want our farmers to realize that CRESAP is like a subsidy to them because whatever government is getting from World Bank, it’s a loan. So government is subsidized the farmers of this country with sixty percent of the CRESAP funding. So when they only pay us 60, government pay World Bank a hundred percent.”

 

Government recently invested three million dollars for a new cattle exports corral in Chan Chen Village through the CRESAP program.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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